Union representation in academia : from lecture halls to labour halls

Franca, Valentina (author), Ribeiro, Ana Teresa (author), Doherty, Michael (author)

This article explores union representation in academia across Europe, focusing on public universities. Despite academia’s seemingly favourable conditions for unionisation, such as high levels of formal education and stable employment, the sector faces unique challenges. The study examines how unions are organised, their bargaining counterparts, the collective agreements they negotiate, and the limitations they face. It compares academic trade unions in five European regions: North (Denmark and Sweden), Centre (Belgium and Germany), South (Spain and Portugal), East (Slovenia and Hungary), and West (Ireland and the UK). Key issues include the impact of market logic and digitalisation on academic work, the increasingly precarious nature of employment relationships, and the challenges of maintaining academic freedom and institutional autonomy. The article highlights the issue of academia being both a privileged and individualistic occupation, which complicates collective action. It also addresses the role of trade unions in university governance. The article generates focused questions for further empirical study on how trade unions are adapting to the changing context of work in academia, providing insights into contemporary trade unionism in the public sector.

• Language: English
• Keywords: trade union representation, academia, collective bargaining, academic freedom, public sector
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 264-280
• Numbering: Vol. 17, iss. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-189584
• UDC: 349.2
• ISSN on article: 2399-5556
• DOI: 10.1177/20319525261454820
• COBISS.SI-ID: 280512003
• Publication date in RUL: 09.10.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: European labour law journal
• Publisher: SAGE, Intersentia
• ISSN: 2399-5556
• COBISS.SI-ID: 526865433

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: sindikalno zastopanje, akademska sfera, kolektivna pogajanja, akademska svoboda, javni sektor